Product Description

Nellie dares to dream of a future with handsome Caleb Yoder, but there are those who would keep the young couple apart . . . including Caleb's own father. Meanwhile, a growing number of Amish farmers are demanding modern conveniences. When a revival adds to the tensions, passions flare and the Old Order community is pushed to the breaking point. Based on actual events.

Product Information

Publisher's Description

NY Times best-selling author's new series chronicling the separation of families during the New Order/Old Order split in the Amish community in Lancaster County, PA.

Author Bio

Beverly Lewis, born in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country, is The New York Times bestselling author of more than eighty books. Her stories have been published in eleven languages worldwide. A keen interest in her mother's Plain heritage has inspired Beverly to write many Amish-related novels, beginning with The Shunning, which has sold more than one million copies and was recently made into an Original Hallmark Channel movie. In 2007 The Brethren was honored with a Christy Award. She has been interviewed by both national and international media, including Time magazine, the Associated Press, and the BBC. Beverly lives with her husband, David, in Colorado. Visit her Web site at www.beverlylewis.com for more information.

Author Bio

Beverly Lewis, born in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country, is a former schoolteacher and accomplished pianist. With over eighty books for adults and children, Beverly has appeared on numerous bestseller lists, including USA Today and The New York Times, as well as been nominated for a 2006 Quill Award. Five of her blockbuster novels have received the Gold Book Award for sales over 500,000, and The Brethren recently won a 2007 Christy Award. More than 10 million copies of her books have been sold. Beverly and her husband, David, make their home in Colorado, where they enjoy hiking, biking, reading, writing, making music, and spending time with their three grandchildren.

ChristianBookPreviews.com

In The Parting, Beverly Lewiss first in a new series, Nellie Mae Fisher, a young Amish girl, must find her way through the loss of a sibling, a youthful romance, and the splitting of her community. She is confused with the grief, the whirlwind of love, and with choosing whether to follow her father in his new faith or to stay true to the old ways of her people, choosing the young man she is quickly coming to love.

Lewis does an excellent job of keeping the plot active and interesting; readers will continue turning pages as they seek to discover which path Nellie will choose. The authors excellently woven suspense keeps readers attention. Not only that, but readers are immediately submersed into the Amish world through sensory descriptions, colloquialisms, and realistic dialogue.

Most intriguing are the two dilemmas that Nellie faces. First, she fights to dispel the nasty rumors that are following the death of her sister, Suzy. According to the whispers of the grapevine, Suzy spent the last few months before her death with Englischers, or non-Amish people, and became involved in a wild lifestyle, disrespectable for an Amish teenager. Are these rumors true, or was Suzy really the girl Nellie thought she was?

Second, Nellies father discovers an unorthodox verse in the Bible that speaks of a man named Jesus who can offer insurance of salvation. At the same time, Nellie is falling in love with Caleb Yoder, who is deeply rooted in the ways of their people. Will she choose to follow the faith of her father, which seems to offer so much peace and joy? If she does, will she risk losing Calebs attention?

Nellie continually walks a tight-rope between trying to remain faithful to her father, to the memory of her sister, but also to her peoples faith and to her love for Caleb. She is surrounded by turmoil as well, as the Amish battle over whether or not certain comforts should be allowed. Where will the line fall for this community, and who will be on which side?

The Parting is a captivating Christian romance. Not only does it keep readers turning pages, it also challenges their passion and excitement for their faith in Christ. The last chapter closes with anticipation for the next book in the series.  Jenni K. Ritschard, Christian Book Previews.com

Publisher's Weekly

Beloved bestselling inspirational author Lewis kicks off The Courtship of Nellie Fisher series, dishing up her usual sort of Amish meal. Amish teen Nellie Fisher's grief over the death of her sister Suzy in a drowning accident is just beginning to heal. It helps that Caleb Yoder has asked her to be his girl, and wedding bells ring in her imagination. Her baked goods shop also provides solace. But change blows through her Pennsylvania Amish community, threatening to divide families and thwart her newfound romance. Other storylines are set up: Rosanna King seems unable to have children, but is promised a forthcoming baby by a woman who has many; Nellie's father reads forbidden scripture and becomes intrigued with salvation by grace. Amish dialect is used judiciously throughout, and although some items (like an old journal) seem like tired clichés, Lewis creates the tension necessary to get the series started. Some Christian readers will wonder about a theology that finds Suzy's death and a crop failure part of God's plan, and there may be confusion for readers unfamiliar with the Amish about the boundaries of Rumschpringe (rumspringa, or the running-around period for some Amish teens). Lewis has a gentle narrative style, however, and her fans will line up for this latest fictional slice of Amish life. 350,000-copy first printing. (Oct.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

Nellie Mae Fisher falls in love with Caleb Yoder at a tumultuous time in her Amish community. Her family is in the midst of dealing with the death of a child, and her community is at an impasse with the details of the Ordnung. Nellie tries to balance all the details of her life, but it seems like she is not meant to have everything.

Will the church be able to settle their differences, or will a split be necessary to placate all parties? Will Caleb's father accept them as a couple, or will something bigger keep them apart? Will her sister's death remain a mystery? Nellie wants to do what is right by God and the church, but is stubbornly holding on to Old Ways truly what God wants of her?

I wasn't sure this series had enough to catch my interest, but boy, was I wrong! Somehow the idea of there being trouble in an Amish community in the 60's over the Ordnung rules and ordinances gives us a whole new look into this fascinating world. The plot kept taking new twists and turns, and I turned the page into something I never saw coming more than once.

The family is torn apart when a daughter and sibling dies, and the questions that surround the mystery of her death incite the curiosity of this Old Order Amish household. Lewis has done it again with this first installment to The Courtship of Nellie Fisher series, and it is worth the read. It is based on actual events from a time and place where the redeeming grace of God was given freely to even the most stubborn of hearts.

Nellie Mae Fisher falls in love with Caleb Yoder at a tumultuous time in her Amish community. Her family is in the midst of dealing with the death of a child, and her community is at an impasse with the details of the Ordnung. Nellie tries to balance all the details of her life, but it seems like she is not meant to have everything.

Will the church be able to settle their differences, or will a split be neccesary to placate all parties? Will Caleb's father accept them as a couple, or will something bigger keep them apart? Will her sister's death remain a mystery? Nellie wants to do what is right by God and the church, but is stubbornly holding on to Old Ways truly what God wants of her?

I wasn't sure this series had enough to catch my interest, but boy, was I wrong! Somehow the idea of there being trouble in an Amish community in the 60's over the Ordnung rules and ordinances gives us a whole new look into this fascinating world. The plot kept taking new twists and turns, and I turned the page into something I never saw coming more than once.

The family is torn apart when a daughter and sibling dies, and the questions that surround the mystery of her death incite the curiosity of this Old Order Amish household. Lewis has done it again with this first installment to The Courtship of Nellie Fisher series, and it is worth the read. It is based on actual events from a time and place where the redeeming grace of God was given freely to even the most stubborn of hearts.

I am a teen who loves reading books. beverly lewis is one of my very favorite authors.this book is very engaging and packed with emotion. I could not put it down once i started reading it(it was finished at about one in the morning:). it is amazing how the author keeps you so involved throughout the story. I really love this book and would recomend it to any teen who is actually interested in this type of book.

So far I've read three of Beverly Lewis's novels and enjoyed all of them. This one was slightly different to the other two in that it is set during the split in the Amish church in the 1960s. Because of this, the story had more emphasis on the Amish theology and how it differed from conventional Christian beliefs. I found this really fascinating as one of the things that has always bugged me about the Amish way of life is that they seem to focus more on the Amish culture than the Word of God, and a lot of their culture has no scriptural foundation. So it was interesting to read about families who discovered the truth about Salvation and how this was treated. Of course, I enjoyed reading about the typical aspects of Amish life: Nellie and Caleb's courtship, Nellie's bakery, and the rumours about Suzy's running-around years. To be totally honest, I didn't find these parts of the book to be as engaging as the sections about Nellie's father and friends discovering salvation through Christ. I liked Nellie as a character but Caleb seemed a bit two-dimensional, and this stopped me from really warming to their courtship and truly caring about the outcome. Likewise, as fascinating as it was to read about the family recovering from Suzy's death, the truth about what happened to her seemed to be tied up far too quickly and neatly in less than a chapter. I was intrigued by the story about Rosanna adopting her cousin's twins. It didn't totally fit into the main storyline, which made it a bit awkward, but it was interesting enough and I'm sure it's significance will become clear in the second book. Overall, I wasn't quite as interested in these characters as I was with some of the other Amish books I've read, but the subject matter - a split in the Amish church because of the issue of Salvation - was fascinating and well written. Looking forward to reading the next in the trilogy.